Thinking out of the Boks

They talked the talk at last week’s indaba and now Springbok assistant coach Johann van Graan believes they are walking the walk.

The Springbok players have been toiling away in Johannesburg this past week, working hard on up-skilling their game.

It’ll only be next Monday, when the overseas players join the squad, that they will start their preparations for the November 5 match against the Barbarians.

Van Graan admits that having two squads — one for the Tests and one for the Barbarians — is tricky, but says: “It is challenging, but the nice thing is that the other guys [overseas-based players] aren’t here at this stage.

“So we’re only 30 players, one or two injuries so the squad’s been pretty small, which is a good thing.

“The challenging thing is to get the big plan together, we’ve been working on our small little puzzles — breakdown detail, running line detail, counter-attack, scrums, kickoff, mauling.

“What we need to improve is the defence and kicking game and that’s where [new assistants] JP [Ferreira] and Franco [Smith] come in.

“Once we get into the attacking zone, we need to finish our opportunities. That comes with better skill [and] that comes from working on it day to day.

“This week we’re only focusing on getting all the players on the same page, improve our skill level, improve on session detail and then from next Monday, we’ll focus specifically on the Barbarians.”

CONTACT

Terms and Conditions

It is important to note that the use of this website is subject to terms and conditions. By using this site the user agrees and is deemed to have agreed to observe all terms and conditions of the use, including any privacy or other policies which may appear elsewhere on the website. Read the Terms and Conditions here.

ABOUT THE DAILY VOICE

The Daily Voice is a Cape tabloid newspaper that captures the life of working class communities. We speak the people’s language, tell the people’s stories and champion the people’s issues by giving a voice to the voiceless.